From the DAILY CALL
Mr. Adam
Contributor
Offshore wind industry critics are calling on President-elect Donald Trump to keep his campaign promise to end federal support for offshore wind on his first day in office.
Trump’s return to the Oval Office could address the troubled offshore wind industry if his administration follows through on its promise to eliminate federal support for offshore wind projects during his second term. Republican lawmakers, who oppose subsidized green energy, and commercial fishermen, who see the industry as an existential threat to their livelihoods, are calling on the president-elect to follow through on his campaign promises, which could lead to federal subsidies and lease sales. for industry. (RELATED: Biden Celebrates Offshore Wind ‘Progress’ Despite Industry’s Major Fight, Cancellation)
“We’re going to make sure (offshore wind) is done on the first day. I’m going to write it in an executive order,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 11. “It will be over in day one.”
Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has approved ten offshore wind projects on a commercial scale and carried out six offshore wind lease sales, including one held last week in the Gulf of Maine that was criticized by the commercial fishing industry as part of President Joe. Biden’s broader climate agenda. Offshore wind is particularly suffering from inflationary pressures, job cancellations and unfavorable public opinion despite the Biden administration’s embrace of the industry.
“I have no doubt that a second Trump administration will do the right thing for America by eliminating the Biden-Harris offshore wind agenda,” New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a vocal critic of the offshore wind industry, told DCNF. “The project is an economic burden, damaging local communities and nothing more than a political payoff for special interests. President Trump knows that true energy independence and prosperity comes from America’s oil, gas, solar and especially nuclear energy, through a balanced energy policy – not from wasteful wind projects that put our economy and environment at risk.
“I think it’s a very wise decision,” Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told DCNF. “We’re spending money, and the worst thing is that all of that money is going to foreign wind companies because there are no American wind companies. They’re all foreign companies making billions of dollars from American energy ratepayers.
The Vineyard Wind energy project, jointly owned by a Danish investment company and a Spanish utility, drew the ire of Republican lawmakers in July when debris from one of the project’s turbine blades – which is longer than the Statue of Liberty – washed ashore in Massachusetts. after breaking and falling into the ocean.
The view from @fishstewardship flotilla protest at Vineyard Wind farm today. pic.twitter.com/iVFpGHasYd
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) August 25, 2024
“We will not allow foreign-owned companies to control our energy supply — much less harm the environment while doing so,” Harris wrote in X.
The New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), a commercial fishing industry group that organized a “flotilla protest” at the damaged Vineyard Wind turbine site in August, called on the Trump administration to return to Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts. of offshore wind by 2030. The group also advocates for the Trump administration to “delist unleased wind energy areas” on the coast of New England and the mid-Atlantic.
NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman told DCNF that he was optimistic that the Trump administration would be the “voice of reason” on offshore wind, which he claimed would be a welcome departure from the previous administration, which was accused of prioritizing green energy goals over the livelihoods of fishermen. and the health of the marine environment. (RELATED: ‘We’ve Been Steamrolled’: Fishermen Protest Offshore Wind After Failed Turbines Throw Debris into Atlantic)
“The incoming administration has a historic opportunity to save American workers from foreign developers, revitalize beautiful coastal cities, and improve America’s food security,” NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman said in a press release after Trump’s election win.
The Trump administration may seek to revoke Inflation Reduction Act subsidies eligible for offshore wind projects, which could make continued industrial growth on the Atlantic coast uneconomic, according to Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute.
“I would expect the outlook for offshore wind to be bleak if the subsidies in the Inflationary Reduction Act are repealed,” Fischer told DCNF. “The high cost of offshore wind is inevitable. State and federal subsidies can cover the cost by shifting it to the tax base, but ultimately the taxpayers or taxpayers will bear the cost of offshore wind which is the highest in the market in the countries that mandate it. .
Share prices of offshore wind developers and wind turbine makers fell sharply on Wednesday after news of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ defeat the night before.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from DCNF.
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